Comet Pan-STARRS

So who all went out last night shortly after sunset to watch Comet Pan-STARRS ?

I watched the crescent moon from about 7:15 to 8:00 PM but failed to see the comet (which was supposed to be towards the left and slightly higher then the moon).

I have since seen a picture (also taken from Sunnyvale) showing both moon and comet and realize that the distance between them was larger then the area I focused on (the comet was further left and slightly below the moon). That dark smog cloud didn't help either (in the picture the comet is on the edge of the cloud and depending on difference in viewing angle for my location may have covered the comet completely).

It was BELOW the moon last night. At about 8pm you could see it if you looked about 10-20 degrees above horizon between where the sun set and where the moon was. It was much lower than I expected, and by 8:05 had dipped below the western mountain range for me in San Jose.

Very faint, you'd need binoculars to see it, but it was there, with the tail pointing "up" towards the moon.

I almost gave up again last night when I could see a very clear moon but no comet. I used the chart from the San Jose Amateur Astronomer site (linked in the Mercury News article) which shows the daily position of the comet.

Luckily someone who brought binocular and telescope for his kid shared with all of us so that everybody got to see it.

The comet will continue to slowly move to the right (north) and also slightly higher above the horizon which should make viewing easier in the coming days. On the other hand increasing distance from the sun may also mean the comet getting even dimmer.